Leak-tight folded box



May 26, 1925.

yFiled July 12. 1924 Z .19a 19 17,5 4' Z5 17 W JZ 15 14 j' Z'c `Z :f5 ,l5

- A fr0/w52 f Patented May 26, 1925.

UNITED STATES lELIE W. LABOMBARDE, 0F NASHUA, NEW HAMPSHIRE LEAK-'IIGHT Application led July 12,

To all whom, t may concern.'

Be it known that I, ELIE W. LABoMBARDE, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Nashua, in the county of Hillsborough and State of New Hampshire, have invented certain new and useful Improvements. in Leak-Tight Folded Boxes, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the manufacture of paper boxes and has particular reference to the production of containers which, although made in the form of fiat folded boxes, are capable of holding soft, or semili uid, or frozen goods such as ice cream, wlthoutpermitting such goods to leak therefrom.

As explained in my application filed .Tanuary 16, 1924, Serial No. 686,511, of which application the present one is, to some extent, a continuation, paper or pasteboard boxes or pails most commonly used at present, especially those which are filled in stores and carried home by individual customers, are of tapering shape so they may be nested for the purpose of saving space when they are shipped or stored. Boxes of such shape can not be made otherwise than partly or wholly by hand, or by very exnsive machines which are slow in prouction. And it is essential that boxesl which are to be used for carrying ice cream from a store to ones home shall have bottoms and side walls as leak-proof as possible. To attain the best results in this respect, it has been necessary heretofore to make the boxes in open or set up condition with their bottom flaps adhesively secured. Therefore they could not be made in fiat folded condition and soshipped or stored. And this is true whether they are of tapering form or are of uniform diameter lfrom end to end.

The principal object of my present invention is to provide boxes suitable for containing ice cream or other substances, which boxes can be made in flat-folded condition by high-speed automatic machines, 4shipped or stored in such flat-folded condition, and can be converted to open or set u condition as wanted, and yet be practica ly leakproof, without requiring the addition of anything to seal the bottom iaps.

In carrying out my invention I preferably provide blanks each of which, when died out, carries a section that is readily FOLDED BOX.

1924. Serial No. 725,542.

detachable therefrom but which remains attached during the folding of the blank to fiat-folded condition and also until the flatfolded box is to be opened or set up for use at which time said section is detached and fitted inside the. box to strengthenthe bottom of the box and furnish additional means coacting with foldable fla s to make the box leak-proof, said section eing later lsable as an ejector for the contents of the Blanks such as described are foldable on two parallel lines and, therefore, can be converted to flat folded boxes and completed by machines of the continuous or rotary type such as illustrated in Letters Patent No. 1,096,633, granted to me May 12, 1914, such machines being capable of operating at a productive speed of more than 50,000 an hour. e

Of the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a plan view of one form of blank for making one of my improved boxes.

Figure 2 is a plan view of a similar blank in its flat-folded condition ready to be set up to container form.

Figure 3 is a plan view of the detachable section.

Figure 4 is a perspective view of the box in partly set up condition.

Figure 5 represents a transverse section of a completely set up box, on line 5-5 of Figure 6.

Figure 6 represents a vertical section on line 6-6 of Figure 5.

Similar reference characters .designate similar parts or features in all of the views.

Referring first to Figure 1, the blank, which will'be of such size and be so proportioned as toI best suit the quantity and kind of material or goods to be carried in the completed box, 1s cut and creased to provide wall sections 12, 13, 14, 15the latter having an edge flap `16. The section 12 has flaps 17, 18, and the section 13 has a section 19 separably, connected to it by a currved perforated line a. The section 14 has aps 21, 22, and the section 15 hasa flap 23 provided with a tucking fla 24 and a flap A25 provided with a tucking liep 26.

One edge of each of the aps 18, 22, is curved as indicated at a, the curvature be-v ing somewhat exaggerated in the interest of clearness of illustration, the purpose of .crease lines on which said flaps ar'e to folded.

The blanks are, preferably, and while flat, first printed in any suitable manner and then parafiined or waxed to provide a high-gloss finish in a manner such as explained in my application filed March 2, 1922, Serial No. 540,604. When the blanks are folded to the condition .illustrated by Figure 2, they are so operated upon that the edge flap 16 of each, which is` at one end of the row of four wall sections, is adhesively secured to the inner surface of the margin offsection 12 at the other end of said row. If the blanks are waxed before folding, the adhesion ]ust referred to will be rendered more durable either by omittin wax from the surfaces which are to be g ued together, or by driving it in, or by removing 1t from said surfaces.

In most if not all stores there are quiet periods when 'a clerk, or clerks, can use the time to set up a number of the .flat boxes to open or goods-receiving condition, to be ready for customers.l When a ila-t box 1s to be so converted-the section 19 is first detached and the four wall sections squaredup to the condition illustrated by Figure 4. At this point it is 'to be understood that fia s 17, 21, 23, are the top or cover iaps, ans that the fiaps 18 22, 25, are the bottom fiaps. And it is especially pointed out that the width of iapv 18 is exactly equal to the width of the wall sections 12, 14, and the len of saidia-p 18 is exactly equal to the wi th of the wall sections 13, 15. In other words, the flap 18, which is the inner or upper of the overlapping bottom iiaps when the box is ready to receive goods, is coextensive in area with the transverse area of the bottom of the box.

When 'the box is in the condition illustrated by Figure 4 the flap 18 is first 'folded up or swung against the lower edges of the wall sections, then the flap 22 is folded up against the lower surface of the flap 18, and then the flap 25 is folded up and its narrow flap 26 is tucked past the edges of the flaps 22, 18, as illustrated by Figures 5 and 6. Owing to the area of the flap 18 as hereinbefore described, `two of its edges meet the angles of fold of the fia s 22, 25,v and of course there can be no lea age past its own angle of fold. And its edge past which the flap 26 is tucked is practically caulked by that tucking flap.

While I do not limit myself to curving the edges of the iaps 18, 22, as illustrated at a, I prefer to do so for the following reason -Some goods, s uch as .ice cream, when packed into such a box, have a tendency to press out or bulge the lower portion of the wall which has no connected or integral folded flap, and such `goods also sometimes gets down behind the tuckin flap 26, and leak past it. By curving an edge a of either or both of the flaps 18, 22, compensation is provided for the bulging of the wall 13, and the 4tuckingiia 26 is pressed tightly against the inner sur ace of said wall 13, serving also to bind or lock the tucking Hap 26 so tightly that the weight of the contents of the box pressing down on the inner flap 18 can not open any crevices at the bottom.

To compensate for the bottom bul 'ng just referred to, and to bind the tuc ing Hap so that no bottom crevice will exist, the said edge a is curved from end to end.

After the box has been filled, the top or cover flaps 17, 21, 23, may be folded down Jin the order named, or otherwise, and the narrow flap 24 tucked in. The reason for providing the perforated lines b is to facilitate the removal of the flaps'17, 21, when the box is to be emptied.

In Figures 5 and 6 the section 19 is not illustrated, partly forv the reason that its presence in those figures would tend to impair thel illustration of the close fitting of the flap 18, and partly because I do not limit myself to boxes having such sections 19. When the sections 19 are employed, however, they serve two purposes, viz: to reinforce the bottom and aid in binding the tucking flap 26 in position, and to serve as an ejecting pusher when the box is to be emptied. When a blank has the detachable section 19, it is removed and after the bottom flaps have been folded up as hereinbefore described, it is inserted flat against the upper or inner surface of the Hap 18. Its cui-ved edges a a compensate for any outward bulging of the lower portions of the walls of the box. and when used as apusher..

the said curved edges leave little' or none .of-

the contents sticking to the walls. When the section is to be so used, it is best to lay the box on one side. on a suitable serving dish or plate. with the top flaps 17, 21, `removed, and the flap 23 wide open or removed, and then a person can. by"simply pushing against the section 19 (aft'er opening the bottom fiaps) cause the said section 19 to act as an ejector smoothly removing the contents as anblock which can then be into slices on the plate.

lll

Having now described my ainvention, I

claim 1. A foldable box blank cut and creased to provide ,four lwall sections with foldable bottom and top flaps, said blankx having an integralbut separable section having an area andadapted and intended vto closely tit the inside of the box when said blank is l0 bearing against the tucke folded and set up to box form, and to be freely pushed through the box, said separable section having curved edges.

2. A paper box having interfolded bottom 5 members including a iap tucked inside against one of the Walls of the box,' and a separate combined plunger and looking member fitting the inside of the box close to said bottom members and. having a curved edge 3. A paper box havininterfolded bottom members one of whic has a ap tucked upwardly against the inside of one of the walls of the box, anotherof said bottom members having an ed `bearing against the said upwardly tucke Hap, said bearing 'edge being curved from end to end.

In testimony whereof I have aixed my signature.

ELIE W. LABOMBARDE. 

